Quack cake

It's a bit of plum season so we're going to tell you a bit about what happened last week. I know, plum season is in August but in August we are busy with the Daffodils so we're doing plum season now but without plums. The week started with a party at Pien's house where a birthday of housemate Nina was celebrated. If we wanted to bake an apple pie for the birthday boy, a vegan one, with banana and vegetable butter. Of course, Jacqueline got to work with batter and as always with Jacqueline's baked goods: fantastically beautiful and deliciously tasty.

In the car on the way to The Hague, that's where the party was, and don't drive too fast. Exactly, there was a cake on the back seat, calmly on the roundabouts because they always cause a lot of commotion with everything and anything in the car or in the litter box. Just before we got there we got a call; is the cake almost here? We're ready, the visitors are ready. Don't panic, calmly continue driving, don't take any risks, we always have a fantastically beautiful cake on the back seat. When we arrived at the party, the vegan apple pie with banana was received with great cheers and neatly placed in the middle of a richly filled buffet table on a classy cake plateau. You know, one of those beautiful glass discs with an elegant leg underneath. The finishing touch was a beautiful, mouth-watering strawberry tart baked by Pien. What a beautiful sight, a tart with sparkling happy strawberries and an apple pie that did its best to look like a wedding cake... mouth-watering. Narcissus Ringing Bells

The candles, it was decided, had to go on the apple pie, after all, you're not going to put candles in those beautiful strawberries. Candles were lit vigorously, whoa, the doorbell rings. Nina has to go to the door first, more visitors, quickly blow out the candles. Big hugs, bunch of flowers, present, bottle of wine, can't you? Yes, sure, light those candles. Not quite like 'hurry up, we're hungry' but still, no one was waiting for it to take any longer. Nina, blow. No wait, photo, photo! There among the visitors. Tim (Nina's father), can you bring the cake over there, Nina can blow and we'll take the photo. Narcissus Say Cheese

Beautiful photos the cake can go back to the richly filled buffet table to get acquainted with the large knife that was waiting there to cut her into delicious, large, creamy pints. Tim walks up with the cake, yes really, he is careful but you can also see a little bit that it is not his daily job to walk around with large cakes. This is probably also why he has no idea that there is a leg under the cake plate; a small tap when putting it down and the cake, which has survived many kilometers of highway, traffic circles and roundabouts starts to slide. Gently, with three people at the same time we try to prevent it, the cake still managed to be just a little bit faster than us. As if in slow motion the cake slides from the plate straight into the crack between the table and the wall where it neatly leaves the streaks of candle wax on the wall. With a dull thud the cake slams onto the Persian-looking carpet under the table. Nina's mother Ingrid makes a heroic attempt to save half of the cake that didn't hit the carpet, so her vegan-eating friends don't starve on the birthday

Yes, that's what you have in the plum season, then I start writing that down but now seriously. The next day I went to Emmeloord, there is a company that makes a soil improver on an organic basis. A kind of fertilizer granules but in addition to fertilizers in the form of trace elements it also contains a base of bacteria and fungi that improve the structure of the soil after spreading and convert the organic matter in the soil into humus. Humus is what plants love, plants can get everything from it that is needed to grow big and healthy. Over the years we have had many questions from enthusiastic gardeners whether we could also offer something to give the flower bulbs a boost so that they come back better the following years. Narcissus Beautiful Dream

Of course there are always the dry cow manure pellets or other more or less chemical fertilizers based on a certain NPK ratio but I didn't think that suited Fluwel at all. Such fertilizers are purely aimed at making plants grow faster but hard growth does make plants bigger but never better and healthier. In fact, hard growth reduces resistance. Every gardener knows it; a crop that is too lush is a paradise for fungi and insects and often causes problems. I think I have now found something, purely organic and the results I have seen are more, much more than promising. Last spring Karel threw a handful of these pellets in each pot of lilies and they have never looked so good in the first year after planting and the lily beetle is also suspiciously quiet. They are there now but compared to the other pots of lilies that I have where the pellets are not there, it is really night and day difference. That is why I drove to Emmeloord, I wanted to know more about this. Narcissus La Delicatesse

Roos is now doing tests with Zantedeschias, Lilies and other plants to convince you with photos that it really adds something. We are still fiddling about the price and the packaging, but as soon as that is sorted out we will put it in the Fluwel web shop. Finally an answer to the frequently asked question about a nutrient for your flower bulbs. There you go; keep asking. Don't give up, keep asking. If you persist long enough I will listen one day. One of our customers once expressed the suspicion that my grandchildren or perhaps the children of my grandchildren will probably no longer have ears. 'No ears' I asked her. Yes, something that is not used slowly evolves away in nature and something that is used a lot becomes bigger and stronger. So if you don't listen... ears will be gone for future generations. Narcissus Bella Ciao

Seriously, I really have faith in this new soil booster, a plant is just like a human being complicated with complicated processes and needs. Now I have to be careful not to digress because if I tell you what I believe in I will be busy for a while. Why not, it is plum season after all, we can easily continue chatting for a while. Sorry Alina and Pien (the translators) I will continue chatting for a while. Narcissus The Booster

Man is just like a plant or, you could also say it that way, a plant is just like a person. A plant has roots and as long as the roots can absorb everything the plant needs to grow and bloom well, it will grow big and strong. The soil in which the plant is located must be as good and lively as possible. Good structure, sufficient organic matter, sufficient humus, bacteria and trace elements, everything is more than desirable for good condition and health of the plant. Where the plant has its tangle of roots, a meter or 6 of intestines can be found in humans. These intestines do exactly the same as the roots in the plant. A small difference is that the mush from which the plant gets its nutrition in humans must first be put in the mouth and we make a mush from it ourselves from which the intestines can extract our nutrients. This is also the best way to look at your plant, make sure that, just like with yourself, everything is available for the plant to feel good. I see just adding artificial fertilizer or another fertilizer based on NPK as bread, meat and potatoes. Works fine for a while but at some point it lacks the much needed vitamins. Narcissus Bulbocodium Ballromm Belle

Many of those essential vitamins for the plant are often present in more than sufficient quantities in your garden soil, but if there is a lack of fungi and bacteria that convert these minerals and trace elements into an absorbable form for the plant, it will still starve. This is what is meant by good soil life, good soil life is almost always the key to good and healthy plant growth. Not that NPK that is always offered to you. For those who do not know, NPK stands for N is for Nitrogen or nitrogen. The P is for Phosphorus or phosphate. The K is for Potassium or lime. Paeonia She's My Star

Now I really have to stop. Next week I will tell you that the Fluwel Special Narcissus shop is almost closing. And oh yes, thanks again for the many Peony orders, it is so nice that there is such a positive response...you make me happy 😊

Kind regards,

Carlos van der Veek